


Divided, He Stands

by Diary



Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Ambiguity, Awkward Conversations, Bechdel Test Fail, Friendship, Gen, Mystery, POV Kurt Wagner, POV Male Character, POV Nonhuman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 20:56:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7377091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He turned eighteen, Nightcrawler. Before, Mystique, at least, used that to keep him around and in school. Now, he’s free. I doubt he’ll ever come back.” Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Divided, He Stands

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own X-Men Evolution.

Kurt hasn’t given Toad being absent for several days much thought, but now, looking down at his apple-and-sausage sandwich, he’s starting to get worried.

Toad has made a habit out of trying to steal half of Kurt’s sandwich for as long as Kurt can remember. When it comes to apple-and-sausage, he tries to steal the whole thing.

In response, Kurt usually insists on taking half of Toad’s bologna sandwich.

“Kurt, you need to eat,” Kitty says. “Lunch is almost over.”

“I will, soon,” he promises. “I need to- I’ll see you later, ja?”

Ignoring her protests, he packs his lunch back up and leaves the table.

When he comes across Wanda leaning against the wall of the school building, he holds his hands up. “Er, truce?”

“What do you want, Nightcrawler?”

“Did you- I mean, did Toad- Where is Toad, please?”

She gives him an odd look. “He left on Sunday. His birthday was Saturday.”

“Oh,” he says. He wonders if he should sneak a present into Toad’s room, later, or just give him one when he comes back, and he wonders what exactly would be a good gift to give. “Where did he go? When will he be back?”

Making a noise he isn’t sure how to interpret, Wanda says, “He turned eighteen, Nightcrawler. Before, Mystique, at least, used that to keep him around and in school. Now, he’s free. I doubt he’ll ever come back.”

“But-” He fumbles. “You’re here. Tabby’s here. Does she know? His friends are here. My sausage-and-apple sandwich- he once came to school sick just to steal it!”

She scoffs. “I don’t know about Boom Boom. The rest of us? We aren’t friends. We don’t like each other. We stick together because the whole world, including other mutants like the X-Men, are against us. He wanted into my pants, and he gave it his best, for lack of a better term, go.”

Kurt feels he should protest. Say, _No, you’re wrong. He might be pushy and annoying and crude, but he genuinely cares about you. He cares about all of the Brotherhood. Even if he were going to leave, he wouldn’t do it quietly. He’d let everyone know, including me, and try to get as much out of it as he could._

Instead, he says, “Oh, thank you for telling me. Have a nice day, Wanda.”

She waves him away.

…

After school, he goes over to Tabitha’s apartment.

“Sorry, blue,” she says. “I didn’t know.”

“But you’re not surprised,” he notes.

Shaking her head, she squeezes his hand and gives him a sad smile. “Toddy- I know you and him have kinda become friends lately, but who everyone thinks he is and who he really is, they’re different people. It was just easier for him to let everyone keep seeing what they expected.”

Puzzled, Kurt asks, “What do you mean?”

At her uncomfortable look, he continues, “If he’s really gone and not coming back- please, Tabby, tell me.”

Sighing, she says, “You meet him when you were both fifteen. Look at how much you’ve changed, blue. We’ve all faced some of the same enemies. We’re all outed, and we’re all having to deal. We all know that Magneto or someone worse could come ‘round. Some people are quiet and don’t push when they have stuff going on inside. I don’t know about him at fifteen, but being the annoying, hyperactive, sarcastic kid you couldn’t trust with your library card, never mind anything important, he could do that, be that, in his sleep.”

…

Kurt knows it’s wrong, but he still ends up poofing into Toad’s room.

Turning on his flashlight, he’s surprised at what he sees.

Namely, aside from Toad’s backpack and possibly a few clothes, there’s absolutely nothing missing in the room. Toad’s IPod (stolen, but Kurt could never prove it or find out who or where it was stolen from), his laptop (won in a rigged bet), and even his prepaid cell phone are all accounted for.

The light turns on, Kurt makes an embarrassing sound, and to his horror, ends up lying in something sticky he doesn’t want to even try to imagine what it could be.

“Nightcrawler?”

Lance’s scowling face appears above him.

“Er, I can explain- Uh, that is- You see-”

Suddenly, Lance is pulling him up. “You have until midnight. Stick to his room. You come around after today, we’ll kick your ass.”

Surprised and touched, Kurt manages, “Um, thank you. But- why?”

With one hand on the doorknob, Lance glances over. “Because we miss him, too. It doesn’t make sense to us, either. But legally, eighteen’s a man.”

“Did you- did you try to stop him?”

“We ain’t family, Nightcrawler. We ain’t all friends bonded through bad times or whatever you and the X-Geeks like to believe about yourselves. One less mouth to deal with, one less person to have to guard our stuff from, one less person who might betray us. Still, we’ll miss him for a while.”

Lance leaves.

Kurt looks through the IPod and finds a mixture of rock, country, and rap. To his surprise, there are a few overtly religious songs mixed in. The computer is password protected, and he has absolutely no idea what Toad might choose for it. On the phone, the contact list has Kurt himself, the Brotherhood, Tabby, and a number Kurt doesn’t recognise. He also discovers Toad has an alarm set to go off once a month to remind him to take a shower.

Other than the electronics, the room is mostly comprised of clothes strewn about, dirty paper plates, and dirty paper cups.

Looking in the closet, his stomach twists when he finds Toad left his heavy-duty boots, his scarves and beanies, and his raincoat. There’s sheets and blankets shoved in a corner.

Going around the room has him discovering several jackets, coats, and sweaters.

Please, he prays, surely, he took several warm clothes with him? He gets cold so easily.

Looking under the bed, among the candy wrappers and soda cans and bottles, he finds a lockbox. Taking it out, he discovers it can be opened via either key or password.

Groaning, he tosses it onto the bed and jumps when it pops open.

Cautiously, he opens it fully and gingerly sits down on the bed.

Inside is nothing but pictures.

Several are of a woman Kurt suspects is Toad’s mother.

There’s a one of Wanda sitting on the Brotherhood couch with her knees sticking in the air, a bowl of what looks like Chocolate Puffs cereal in setting against her pressed together legs, and a spoon full of the food floating in the air. In it, her hair is incredibly spiky, she’s wearing a long t-shirt, and she has a dab of brown near her mouth. Her expression is more bleary than anything.

Then, there are a significant number of pictures with Tabitha. Most of them have her alone and obviously posing for the camera, but a few have other people in the frame, too. One picture has her and Amara dancing together.

He wonders if Toad has a camera, took some of these on his cell phone and had them printed out, or if someone else took all of the pictures.

Finally, he comes across a picture of the Brotherhood and the X-Men standing around a flag and remembers the retreat where they all eventually worked together.

That had been nice, he reflects.

Looking around the room, he feels a sense of uneasy sadness.

He could ask Professor X to find Toad, but even if the professor agreed, he doesn’t know what he’d do with the information. Go visit Toad? Ask why he left? Ask him to come back? Ask him what secrets he’s been hiding and for how long? Simply tell him he’s missed?

Suddenly, he remembers Toad once ranted about the saying, ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’

According to Toad, the people who stood alone had a better chance of standing ‘til the end. The people who banded together, what they were fighting for had a better chance of surviving, but the people didn’t.

At the time, Kurt had simply pointed out Toad was the sort who always hid behind other people, and Toad had easily agreed and said something about there being no shame in needing people stronger than you around.

Now, he wishes he’d tried to have a more serious discussion with Toad.

“May you never fall, mein friend,” Kurt finds himself whispering.

He tries to put everything back where he found it, takes a breath, and after one last look around, poofs away.


End file.
